Abstract: The UK Government has emphasized the role of Local Authorities as a key player in its flagship residential energy efficiency strategies, by identifying and targeting areas for energy efficiency improvements. Residential energy consumption in England is characterized by significant geographical variation in energy demand, which makes centralized targeting of areas for energy efficiency intervention difficult. This paper draws on research which aims to understand how demographic, social, economic, urban form and climatic factors influence the geographical variations in English residential gas consumption. The paper reports the findings of a multiple regression model that shows how 64% of the geographical variation in residential gas consumption is accounted for by variations in these factors. Results from this study, after further refinement and validation, can be used by Local Authorities to identify areas within their boundaries that have higher than expected gas consumption, these may be prime targets for energy efficiency initiatives.
Abstract: Aiming at most of the aviation products are facing the problem of fatigue fracture in vibration environment, we makes use of the testing result of a bracket, analysis for the structure with ANSYS-Workbench, predict the life of the bracket by different ways, and compared with the testing result. With the research on analysis methods, make an organic combination of simulation analysis and testing, Not only ensure the accuracy of simulation analysis and life predict, but also make a dynamic supervision of product life process, promote the application of finite element simulation analysis in engineering practice.
Abstract: One of the processes of slope that occurs every year in Iran and some parts of world and cause a lot of criminal and financial harms is called landslide. They are plenty of method to stability landslide in soil and rock slides. The use of the best method with the least cost and in the shortest time is important for researchers. In this research, determining the best method of stability is investigated by using of Decision Support systems. DSS is made for this purpose and was used (for Hasan Salaran area in Kurdistan). Field study data from topography, slope, geology, geometry of landslide and the related features was used. The related data entered decision making managements programs (DSS) (ALES).Analysis of mass stability indicated the instability potential at present. Research results show that surface and sub surface drainage the best method of stabilizing. Analysis of stability shows that acceptable increase in security coefficient is a consequence of drainage.
Abstract: The objective of this research is to develop the
performance indicators (PIs) in operational level for the Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system employing in Thailand. This research started with ascertaining the current pre-hospital care
system. The team analyzed the strategies of Narerthorn, a government unit under the ministry of public health, and the existing PIs of the pre-hospital care. Afterwards, the current National Strategic Plan of EMS development (2008-2012) of the Emergency
Medical Institute of Thailand (EMIT) was considered using strategic
analysis to developed Strategy Map (SM) and identified the Success
Factors (SFs). The analysis results from strategy map and SFs were used to develop the Performance Indicators (PIs). To verify the set of
PIs, the team has interviewed with the relevant practitioners for the possibilities to implement the PIs. To this paper, it was to ascertain
that all the developed PIs support the objectives of the strategic plan. Nevertheless, the results showed that the operational level PIs suited
only with the first dimension of National Strategic Plan
(infrastructure and information technology development). Besides,
the SF was the infrastructure development (to contribute the EMS system to people throughout with standard and efficiency both in normally and disaster conditions). Finally, twenty-nine indicators
were developed from the analysis results of SM and SFs.
Abstract: This is an application research presenting the
improvement of production quality using the six sigma solutions and
the analyses of benefit-cost ratio. The case of interest is the
production of tile-concrete. Such production has faced with the
problem of high nonconforming products from an inappropriate
surface coating and had low process capability based on the strength
property of tile. Surface coating and tile strength are the most critical
to quality of this product. The improvements followed five stages of
six sigma solutions. After the improvement, the production yield was
improved to 80% as target required and the defective products from
coating process was remarkably reduced from 29.40% to 4.09%. The
process capability based on the strength quality was increased from
0.87 to 1.08 as customer oriented. The improvement was able to save
the materials loss for 3.24 millions baht or 0.11 million dollars. The
benefits from the improvement were analyzed from (1) the reduction
of the numbers of non conforming tile using its factory price for
surface coating improvement and (2) the materials saved from the
increment of process capability. The benefit-cost ratio of overall
improvement was high as 7.03. It was non valuable investment in
define, measure, analyses and the initial of improve stages after that
it kept increasing. This was due to there were no benefits in define,
measure, and analyze stages of six sigma since these three stages
mainly determine the cause of problem and its effects rather than
improve the process. The benefit-cost ratio starts existing in the
improve stage and go on. Within each stage, the individual benefitcost
ratio was much higher than the accumulative one as there was an
accumulation of cost since the first stage of six sigma. The
consideration of the benefit-cost ratio during the improvement
project helps make decisions for cost saving of similar activities
during the improvement and for new project. In conclusion, the
determination of benefit-cost ratio behavior through out six sigma
implementation period provides the useful data for managing quality
improvement for the optimal effectiveness. This is the additional
outcome from the regular proceeding of six sigma.
Abstract: Above Elbow Prosthesis is one of the most commonly
amputated or missing limbs. The research is done for modelling
techniques of upper limb prosthesis and design of high torque, light
weight and compact in size elbow actuator. The purposed actuator
consists of a DC motor, planetary gear set and a harmonic drive. The
calculations show that the actuator is good enough to be used in real
life powered prosthetic upper limb or rehabilitation exoskeleton.
Abstract: The issue of unintentional islanding in PV grid
interconnection still remains as a challenge in grid-connected
photovoltaic (PV) systems. This paper discusses the overview of
popularly used anti-islanding detection methods, practically applied
in PV grid-connected systems. Anti-islanding methods generally can
be classified into four major groups, which include passive methods,
active methods, hybrid methods and communication base methods.
Active methods have been the preferred detection technique over the
years due to very small non-detected zone (NDZ) in small scale
distribution generation. Passive method is comparatively simpler
than active method in terms of circuitry and operations. However, it
suffers from large NDZ that significantly reduces its performance.
Communication base methods inherit the advantages of active and
passive methods with reduced drawbacks. Hybrid method which
evolved from the combination of both active and passive methods
has been proven to achieve accurate anti-islanding detection by many
researchers. For each of the studied anti-islanding methods, the
operation analysis is described while the advantages and
disadvantages are compared and discussed. It is difficult to pinpoint a
generic method for a specific application, because most of the
methods discussed are governed by the nature of application and
system dependent elements. This study concludes that the setup and
operation cost is the vital factor for anti-islanding method selection in
order to achieve minimal compromising between cost and system
quality.
Abstract: Statistical learning theory was developed by Vapnik. It
is a learning theory based on Vapnik-Chervonenkis dimension. It also
has been used in learning models as good analytical tools. In general, a
learning theory has had several problems. Some of them are local
optima and over-fitting problems. As well, statistical learning theory
has same problems because the kernel type, kernel parameters, and
regularization constant C are determined subjectively by the art of
researchers. So, we propose an evolutionary statistical learning theory
to settle the problems of original statistical learning theory.
Combining evolutionary computing into statistical learning theory,
our theory is constructed. We verify improved performances of an
evolutionary statistical learning theory using data sets from KDD cup.
Abstract: Conventionally the selection of parameters depends
intensely on the operator-s experience or conservative technological
data provided by the EDM equipment manufacturers that assign
inconsistent machining performance. The parameter settings given by
the manufacturers are only relevant with common steel grades. A
single parameter change influences the process in a complex way.
Hence, the present research proposes artificial neural network (ANN)
models for the prediction of surface roughness on first commenced
Ti-15-3 alloy in electrical discharge machining (EDM) process. The
proposed models use peak current, pulse on time, pulse off time and
servo voltage as input parameters. Multilayer perceptron (MLP) with
three hidden layer feedforward networks are applied. An assessment
is carried out with the models of distinct hidden layer. Training of the
models is performed with data from an extensive series of
experiments utilizing copper electrode as positive polarity. The
predictions based on the above developed models have been verified
with another set of experiments and are found to be in good
agreement with the experimental results. Beside this they can be
exercised as precious tools for the process planning for EDM.
Abstract: Through the time, the higher education has changed
the learning system since mother tongue to bilingual, and in this new
century has been coming develop a multilingual education. All as
part of globalization process of the countries and the education.
Nevertheless, this change only has been effectively in countries of the
first world, the rest have been lagging. Therefore, these countries
require strengthen their higher education systems through models that
give way to multilingual and bilingual education. In this way, shows
a new model adapted from a systemic form to allow a higher
bilingual and multilingual education in Latin America. This
systematization aims to increase the skills and competencies
student’s, decrease the time learning of a second tongue, add to
multilingualism in the American Latin Universities, also, contribute
to position the region´s countries in a better global status, and
stimulate the development of new research in this area.
Abstract: The inherent iterative nature of product design and development poses significant challenge to reduce the product design and development time (PD). In order to shorten the time to market, organizations have adopted concurrent development where multiple specialized tasks and design activities are carried out in parallel. Iterative nature of work coupled with the overlap of activities can result in unpredictable time to completion and significant rework. Many of the products have missed the time to market window due to unanticipated or rather unplanned iteration and rework. The iterative and often overlapped processes introduce greater amounts of ambiguity in design and development, where the traditional methods and tools of project management provide less value. In this context, identifying critical metrics to understand the iteration probability is an open research area where significant contribution can be made given that iteration has been the key driver of cost and schedule risk in PD projects. Two important questions that the proposed study attempts to address are: Can we predict and identify the number of iterations in a product development flow? Can we provide managerial insights for a better control over iteration? The proposal introduces the concept of decision points and using this concept intends to develop metrics that can provide managerial insights into iteration predictability. By characterizing the product development flow as a network of decision points, the proposed research intends to delve further into iteration probability and attempts to provide more clarity.
Abstract: Under-representation of women in leadership positions" is still a general phenomenon in Germany despite the high number of implemented measures. The under-representation of female executives in the aviation sector is even worse. In this context our research hypothesis is that the representation and acceptance of women in management positions is determined by corporate culture.
Abstract: research goal was to determine the expression levels cDNA of brain embrio at gestation days 10 (GD-10). The Electroforesis DNA results showed that GAPDH, Fibronectin1, Ncam1, Tenascin, Vimentin, Neurofilament heavy, Neurofilament medium and Neurofilament low were 447 bp, 462 bp, 293 bp. 416 bp, 327 bp, 301 bp, 398 bp and 289 bp. Result of real-time RT-PCR on brain Embryo at gestation days 10 showed that the expression of copy gen Fibronectin 36 copies, Ncam 21,708 copies; Tenascin 24,505 copies; Vimentin 538,554 copies; Neurofilament heavy 2,419 copies; Neurofilament medium 92,928 copies; Neurofilament low 125,809 copies. Vimentin expressed gene copies is very high compared with other gene copies. This condition are caused by Vimentin, that contribute to proliferate of brain development. The vimentin role to cell proliferation of brain.
Abstract: Environmental pollution problems have been globally
main concern in all fields including economy, society and culture into
the 21st century. Beginning with the Kyoto Protocol, the reduction on
the emissions of greenhouse gas such as CO2 and SOX has been a
principal challenge of our day. As most buildings unlike durable goods
in other industries have a characteristic and long life cycle, they
consume energy in quantity and emit much CO2. Thus, for green
building construction, more research is needed to reduce the CO2
emissions at each stage in the life cycle. However, recent studies are
focused on the use and maintenance phase. Also, there is a lack of
research on the initial design stage, especially the structure design.
Therefore, in this study, we propose an optimal design plan
considering CO2 emissions and cost in composite buildings
simultaneously by applying to the structural design of actual building.
Abstract: This paper describes the process used in the
automation of the Maritime UAV commands using the Kinect sensor.
The AR Drone is a Quadrocopter manufactured by Parrot [1] to be
controlled using the Apple operating systems such as iPhones and
Ipads. However, this project uses the Microsoft Kinect SDK and
Microsoft Visual Studio C# (C sharp) software, which are compatible
with Windows Operating System for the automation of the navigation
and control of the AR drone.
The navigation and control software for the Quadrocopter runs on
a windows 7 computer. The project is divided into two sections; the
Quadrocopter control system and the Kinect sensor control system.
The Kinect sensor is connected to the computer using a USB cable
from which commands can be sent to and from the Kinect sensors.
The AR drone has Wi-Fi capabilities from which it can be connected
to the computer to enable transfer of commands to and from the
Quadrocopter.
The project was implemented in C#, a programming language that
is commonly used in the automation systems. The language was
chosen because there are more libraries already established in C# for
both the AR drone and the Kinect sensor.
The study will contribute toward research in automation of
systems using the Quadrocopter and the Kinect sensor for navigation
involving a human operator in the loop. The prototype created has
numerous applications among which include the inspection of vessels
such as ship, airplanes and areas that are not accessible by human
operators.
Abstract: Green Forestation Plan (GFP) was expected to promote the reforestation of plains totaling 60,000 has within the first 8 years. Annual subsidies were budgeted at $120,000 per ha, and $2.4 million for 20 years. In this research we have surveyed landlords- opinions toward the GFP in an attempt to understand landlords- incentives for participating in the GFP and their levels of concern and agreement toward the policy design. Based our analysis of landlords- opinions on the policy design, we expect to derive appropriate complementary measures, establish effective promotional schemes, and raise the policy effectiveness of the GFP. According to the results of this research, there was still a relatively high proportion of population who were not aware of GFP; more than 50% of landlords were neutral or willing to participate given high reforestation subsidies; approximately 30% of landlords were unwilling to participate. In terms of the designs of GFP, more than 50% of respondents were concerned and agreed with the policy design. In terms of the period of this policy, 52.7% of respondents indicated that it should be shortened to 15 years or lower. In terms of the amount of the subsidy, 41.7% of respondents showed that it should be raised to approximately $250,000/ha. In terms of land area restrictions, 88.0% of respondents believed that the minimum should be lowered to 0.4 ha. More than 70% of respondents owned less than 0.4 has of land, and since they do not own enough land to be eligible for the program, more than 80% of landlords wished to lower the minimum requirements of land area. In addition, 59.3% of respondents were reluctant to participate in reforestation because their lands were too small to be eligible; 15.0% of respondents were reluctant because the duration was too long. Responses to the question about “how the policy can be adjusted to provide incentives for landlords- participation" revealed that almost 40% of respondents desired higher subsidies. Some policy suggestions are provided as follows: (1) many landlords are still unaware of the GFP so the government should enhance the promotion of the policy; (2) many landlords are unwilling to participate in GFP mainly because they do not own enough lands to be eligible, hence the government should consider adjusting its requirements for minimum agricultural land area; (3) for subsequent promotions on GFP, the government may consider targeting on the landlords with high income and high level of education; (4) because the subsidy of this policy alone provides limited help to landlords, the government should help the landlords to explore other revenue possibilities from afforestation in addition to the existing subsidies and raise the participation incentives.
Abstract: Nothing that an effective cure for infertility happens
when we can find a unique solution, a great deal of study has been
done in this field and this is a hot research subject for to days study.
So we could analyze the men-s seaman and find out about fertility
and infertility and from this find a true cure for this, since this will be
a non invasive and low risk procedure, it will be greatly welcomed.
In this research, the procedure has been based on few Algorithms
enhancement and segmentation of images which has been done on
the images taken from microscope in different fertility institution and
have obtained a suitable result from the computer images which in
turn help us to distinguish these sperms from fluids and its
surroundings.
Abstract: The research on the effectiveness of environmental
assessment (EA) is a milestone effort to evaluate the state of the field,
including many contributors related with a lot of countries since more
than two decades. In the 1960s, there was a surge of interest between
modern industrialized countries over unexpected opposite effects of
technical invention. The interest led to choice of approaches for
assessing and prediction the impressions of technology and
advancement for social and economic, state health and safety, solidity
and the circumstances. These are consisting of risk assessment,
technology assessment, environmental impact assessment and costbenefit
analysis. In this research contribution, the authors have
described the research status for environmental assessment in
cumulative environmental system. This article discusses the methods
for cumulative effect assessment (CEA).
Abstract: The importance of happiness understanding research is caused by cardinal changes experiences in system of people values in the post-Soviet countries territory. «The time of changes», which characterized with destruction of old values and not creativeness of new, stimulating experiences by the person of existential vacuum. The given research is actual not only in connection with sense formation, but also in connection with necessity creatively to adapt in integrative space. According to numerous works [1,2,3], we define happiness as the peak experience connected with satisfaction correlated system of needs, dependent on style of subject's coping behavior.
Abstract: The development of Web has affected different aspects of our lives, such as communication, sharing knowledge, searching for jobs, social activities, etc. The web portal as a gateway in the World Wide Web is a starting point for people who are connecting to the Internet. The web portal as the type of knowledge management system provides a rich space to share and search information as well as communication services like free email or content provision for the users. This research aims to discover the university needs to the web portal as a necessary tool for students in the universities to help them in getting the required information. A survey was conducted to gather students' requirements which can be incorporated in to portal to be developed.